“What are we to do with these men?"

“What are we to do with these men?"

April 6, 2013

Saturday in the Octave of Easter

“Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.  It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”  Acts 4: 19b-20

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.  He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”  Mark 16:14-15

Piety

“Watch how you live. Your lives may be the only gospel your sisters and brothers will ever read.”–Dom Helder Camara

Study

The Christianity stuff is serious business.  And it is not easy.  Despite my references to the Good News throughout Lent as a "little instruction booklet," when you follow the directions, you get stuck between two opposing forces.  We see that tension in both readings today. 

Peter and John have followed what Jesus wanted them to do. Their actions landed them in trouble with the powers that be in their church and society -- powers which tried to silence them in word and deed.  If Jesus provided an example in civil disobedience, they picked up the mantle and provided another model for the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Lech Walesa, and others to follow. 

Disciples like Peter and John got to that point because at first, after the crucifixion, they did not immediately follow the precepts that Jesus commissioned them to accomplish.   It took an appearance after death for Jesus to remind them to go out into the world and preach the Good News.  So even though Jesus had commissioned them earlier in Mark's Gospel (3:14, 6:7), they had only tested the waters while Jesus was with them.  After this, they retreated back into the comforts of their old lives.  However, with the appearances after the resurrection, the full meaning of their commission took hold.

Action

How do you feel the tension between what the world allows and what the Gospel demands?  Does saving for retirement cheat the poor?  Does obeying civil rights compromise our charitable responsibilities?